GLOBAL: Women hold key to home wine market - research

Women's knowledge of wine is vastly underestimated, the organisers of the Vinexpo wine show have said, as new research shows that women buy eight out of ten bottles of wine drunk by UK households.

Women in developed countries, such as the UK, US, Japan and France, are becoming increasingly confident about choosing wine, according to research commissioned by Vinexpo.

In the UK, a survey of 1,300 women undertaken by the Decanter and Living magazines found that women are responsible for 80% of household wine purchases.

Research carried out by several magazines and newspapers in France, Japan and the US, found similar results, according to the organisers of Vinexpo.

Robert Beynat, chief executive of Vinexpo, said: "The role of women in wine buying and the depth of their knowledge has been vastly underestimated. This is as true for other countries as it is for Britain. It is often assumed, for example, that women drink white wine and rosé rather than red whereas this research shows the contrary."

Vinexpo chairman Xavier de Eizaguirre told just-drinks: "Today it is normal to see three women out together and sharing a bottle of wine, whereas perhaps 30 years ago you would not have seen that."

He said that wine industry itself has also become more representative. "There are more and more women sommeliers, winemakers and owners. Women are very good tasters, but 20 years ago tasting was a very male activity," he said, adding that high-profile women wine writers, such as Jancis Robinson MW, have also helped to expand wine's appeal to women.

Vinexpo, the world's largest wine show, will take place in Bordeaux from 21 June to 25 June.

Late last month, just-drinks reported that, according to the head of Vinexpo, the internet would never become an alternative to traditional sales circuits for wine. Try telling that to the e-commerce ...